Chapter XII

SEVEN MINOR YOGI EXERCISES

This chapter is composed of seven minor Yogi Breathing Exercises, bearing no special names, but each distinct and separate from the others and having a different purpose in view. Each student will find several of these exercises best adapted to the special requirements of his particular case. Although we have styled these exercises "minor exercises," they are quite valuable and useful, or they would not appear in this book. They give one a condensed course in "Physical Culture" and "Lung Development," and might readily be "padded out" and elaborated into a small book on these subjects. They have, of course, an additional value, as Yogi Breathing forms a part of each exercise. Do not pass them by because they are marked "minor." Some one or more of these exercises may be just what you need. Try them and decide for yourself.

EXERCISE I

(1) Stand erect with hands at sides.

(2) Inhale Complete Breath.

(3) Raise the arms slowly, keeping them rigid until the hands touch over head.

(4) Then raise yourself back with the arm muscles alone, keeping the body stiff.

(5) Exhale vigorously through the mouth.

(6) Practice Cleansing Breath.

EXERCISE VI

(1) Stand erect with arms "akimbo," that is, with hands resting around the waist and elbows standing out.

(2) Inhale Complete Breath and retain.

(3) Keep legs and hips stiff and bend well forward, as if bowing, at the same time exhaling slowly.

(4) Return to first position and take another Complete Breath.

(5) Then bend backward, exhaling slowly.

(6) Return to first position and take a Complete Breath.

(7) Then bend sideways, exhaling slowly. (Vary by bending to right and then to left.)

(8) Practice Cleansing Breath.

EXERCISE VII

(1) Stand erect, or sit erect, with straight spinal column.

(2) Inhale a Complete Breath, but instead of inhaling a continuous steady stream, take a series of short, quick "sniffs," as if you were smelling aromatic salts or ammonia and did not wish to get too strong a "whiff." Do not exhale any of these little breaths, but add one to the other until the entire lung space is filled.